Loneliness
by kittykat2892
Summary: When the Boogeyman returns a shadow of his former self, Jack Frost is there to confront him. The Guardian's curiosity is piqued, and he won't let Pitch leave without telling him he's not as alone as he thinks he is. Sort of Character Study of Jack Frost and Pitch Black. No pairings.


_A/N: Umm, yeah... This is what happens when I settle down to go to bed, but stay on my laptop beforehand. What can I say? 2:30 in the morning is the perfect time to think on the Boogeyman...Or at least start thinking about him._

_It's basically a short character study of Jack Frost and Pitch Black, or at least the first part. If Frozen Heart doesn't keep me so occupied, I may lengthen this a few chapters._

_**Disclaimer: **_

_The Guardians (c) William Joyce_

_Rise of the Guardians (c) Dreamworks_

/x/x/x/

"_What goes together better than cold and dark?"_

The words haunt Jack Frost, even to do this day, decades after Pitch's offer of a partnership. He has never told his fellow Guardians about his moment of weakness in possibly the lowest time of his existence. To be shunned and abandoned when he had just found a glimmer of light and hope... It had hurt.

Yet what Pitch wanted would hurt more.

Jack was truly sorry when the Nightmares turned against Pitch. No one, not even the Boogyman, deserves that kind of treatment. The young Guardian has been waiting for the older Spirit to return, causing blizzards and snow days between his duties as a Guardian in the meantime to keep himself distracted.

The white-haired boy floats above the area where Pitch was last seen, a contemplative look gracing his boyish face.

Pitch had been alone far longer than Jack. From the stories he's pestered from North and Sandy (with some suspicion), Pitch is even older than the Guardians. He can try to ask the Man in the Moon, but Jack is positive he won't reveal anything the others haven't.

Blue depths turn their gaze to the Moon, Jack leaning back as if he's sitting in a recliner. He crosses his legs, and rests his palms on the back of his head as he continues thinking.

Jack was alone for 300 years. Pitch has been alone, the villain, for much, much longer... Since an age long past where everything was golden. If the Man in the Moon hadn't chosen Jack to become a Guardian, and he had continued his lonely existence...

Shadows moving beneath him alert Jack that something is happening. He rolls over, resting his chin in one palm as he grips his staff with the other, watching the area below him in curiosity.

Pitch rises from the shadows, similar to a phoenix rising from its ashes, though Pitch is actually a dark phoenix in that metaphor... Jack shakes his head, smiling at his childishness. His attention can never stay focused on one thing for very long... Aside from his curiosity of Pitch.

Maybe he should be scared that the Boogeyman is back. Jack doesn't feel fear, however. He can't make himself fear the King of Nightmares. Watching Pitch now as he looks around, a lost look in his eyes...

Jack feels sympathy for the dark Spirit.

He tells the wind to set him down behind Pitch. His friend argues against such a rash action (at least in its opinion), but Jack firmly tells the wind he'll be fine. If there's even the slightest hint of danger, the wind can pick him up and fly him to the North Pole. This satisfies his friend, and so the wind does as it is asked.

Pitch doesn't notice the frost spirit land behind him. Jack takes the moment of invisibility to study the Boogeyman after his long time beneath the earth.

The dark-skinned Spirit doesn't have the confident air he carried when Jack had first come under his scrutiny. Black-clad shoulders droop as if the weight of the world rests atop them, yellow eyes darting around warily as they study their surroundings.

Jack clears his throat, and the reaction is instantaneous. Pitch actually recoils from the Spirit of Winter as he had when Sandy had surprised him, the same look of surprised fear flashing across his face.

Realizing who the witness is to his rebirth, Pitch chuckles nervously, attempting to pull himself together and act as the King of Nightmares.

"Jack Frost. Did the Guardians set you as the guard to alert them when I returned?"

The ice elf watches Pitch for a few seconds before shaking his head negatively.

"We've never had someone watch over this area. I come here to... think."

Pitch blinks, lithe body seeming to collapse in on itself when he realizes the Guardians no longer see the Boogeyman as a threat.

"Then begone, irritable child!" Pitch snaps, turning from Jack sharply.

Jack doesn't listen, instead asking the wind to keep him floating just out of Pitch's reach as he follows him to his intended destination.

"I'm not here to make fun of you, if that's what you're worried about." Jack confides. Pitch laughs scathingly.

"Your mind is so childish! The children of this age do not fear me, but make jokes at the expense of the Boogeyman name, just like you and your fellow Guardians, I'm sure!"

Jack frowns, putting on a burst of speed so he can float in front of Pitch. The older Spirit halts, a scowl deepening his already gaunt features.

"I'm not here to make fun of you. I've never made fun of you, aside from that time you targeted Jamie."

"Why won't you leave me alone?" Pitch growls, attempting to side-step Jack. The frost spirit blocks his path again, his gaze never wavering.

"What goes together better than cold and dark?"

The words from what seems a lifetime ago freezes Pitch in his tracks. He sneers, quickly trying to hide his moment of weakness.

"Throwing my words back at me now will do you no good, even if you are tired of being a Guardian. My offer to become partners no longer stands!"

Jack rolls his eyes, crossing his arms and resting his staff in the crook of one of his arms. "I'm not here to enter into a partnership with you, Pitch. I've had the experience of children believing in me. In the _good _in me. There's no reason for me to turn to darkness to make them fear me when I have their love."

A sigh escapes grey lips. "Why are you bothering me, Jack Frost? Get to the point. I find this grating."

"I've had years to think over our... heart-to-heart. I've never told the other Guardians, because I don't think they'll understand."

"Understand what? That you chose their goodness over my evil?" Pitch replies sarcastically.

Jack moves to where he is mere inches from Pitch's face, blue eyes searching yellow. "That's the thing. I'm not all that positive I chose goodness over evil."

Pitch staggers backwards, putting space between the younger Spirit and himself. "What do you think I am, then? I am certainly not the Spirit of sugar plums and rainbows!" Pitch spits hatefully, eyes glowing dangerously.

Yes, there's the old Boogeyman shining through. Jack smirks despite himself.

"I think I chose goodness over loneliness."

Pitch tenses. "The Boogeyman is never lonely."

Jack chuckles. "Pitch, you can't keep secrets from me. I am younger than you... But I think if I was never chosen as a Guardian..."

A sad smile plays along pale lips. "If I was never chosen, if the Guardians never began paying attention to me... I think I would have taken you up on your offer in another hundred years or so, simply because I would want to feel needed."

Pitch retreats from Jack, but the ice elf is unwilling to let the Boogeyman disappear. In fear of him disappearing into the shadows, Jack grips Pitch's shoulder gently. The flinch from the light touch doesn't pass Jack's notice.

"I would want to feel as if I belonged in a family."

"Why do you insist on torturing me? I have been through a living hell for... for... I have lost all perception of time, I do not even know what year it is or how many have passed since I have last breathed fresh air instead of stagnant, fear infested air! When I believe I have finally escaped my prison, I find you sent here to make me even smaller than I have already become!"

The anger brings forward the old Pitch. Jack tenses, moving from his relaxed posture into one more ready to fend off an angry attack.

"My name was once feared throughout the world by both children and adults alike! I was powerful! I was a being whose path no other Spirit wished to cross! When those idiotic Guardians came into the picture, I was ridiculed and belittled, no longer strong enough..."

Jack listens silently until Pitch's voice fades into nothing. The look of anger fades to one of lost confusion. The frost spirit lands, his bare feet barely making a sound on the loose dirt. He has put himself in the weaker position as he approaches the much taller Nightmare King. Pitch's eyes do not stray from Jack's.

"The other Spirits didn't like me either. The majority of them still don't. Whenever I screwed up their holiday, they made sure I knew never to do it again. I didn't have the legacy you have protecting me. I've been alone since I was brought back from death."

Pitch frowns. "I ask one last time... Why are you here?"

Jack stares up into yellow eyes that hold not evil, but pain and loneliness.

"Perhaps I see what I could have been."

The wind swirls around Jack, picking him up from the ground. Pitch covers his nose to keep the loose soil from suffocating him as he watches the Spirit of Winter. Jack grins cheekily, waving at Pitch, before shooting into the higher atmosphere and disappearing above the treetops.

Pitch disappears into the shadows, intent on reclaiming his lost lair with the fire the frost child has re-instilled in the Boogeyman.

Pitch Black _would_ be feared once again.

/x/x/x/


End file.
